The King and the Bishop
by LeelaLaFleur
Summary: He comes every once in awhile and they play chess, but with every won game she loses little bit of her hope... AN: If I owned HP, I would be filthy rich :D So enjoy TomR/Hermi


Young witch, about 26 years of age, dressed in beautiful summer dress, made out of the luxurious material with a hand-knitted flowery design, walked through secluded part of the rose garden. She did not stop to adore all the blooming roses and simply walked straight to small stone chess table, just like so many times before.

He was already waiting there for her. Standing, his head lowered and eyes closed. He pursued unspoken law of never sitting down before her. Why did he chose to do so, she did not know. She stopped for a second and took in his appearance. He was dressed in a semi-formal black pants and a deep green high-collar shirt. He looked couple years younger than her, but his hair was styled in a typical gentleman fashion of the 50's. With his completely relaxed expression he looked almost innocent. Almost.

"Are you going to join me for a game, or would you prefer to just stand there and stare at me all day?" he smirked without even opening his eyes.

"I got lost in my thoughts." She stated plainly without any hint of apology and took his hand, which he was already holding up for her.

He gracefully let her to the chair in front of the white figures. She predicted so. It was not like they never switched, but he seemed to prefer to play with the dark pieces… Or did he prefer for her to play with the starting pieces?

Whatever the answer was, she did not waste any time and advanced one of the pawns on the left side.

"How predicable!" he said and moved his knight forward in a given manner.

"Likewise!" she smiled sweetly back, smile never reaching her eyes.

"_We need to do something! Soon!" whispered brown haired witch to a boy next to her. The boy straightened his glasses and ran his hand through his untamable black hair. He looked deep into her eyes and without any words they both knew they will need a plan; a way better plan than they were going by now.  
_

"_We have destroyed another of Horcruxes! Naginy!" whispered Fred to the trio across the corridor. He was hiding just couple yards from them behind a statue of Lord Boldrick. "It was Neville!" he added with a half-smile._

_Harry licked his lips nervously and said: "And I think I know what's the last one…"_

_They all turned to him expectantly._

"_It-it's me." peeped Harry. Ron immediately started round of protest, but Hermione looked at him silently. She knew too well that Harry's thesis was more probable than possible. Reading his eyes she started to understand his plan. Making Harry his final horcrux was Voldemort's great idea, but also a great mistake._

"_I have a plan." Added Harry quickly and Hermione already did not like where it was going._

She did not like it at all. Her opponent advanced every one of his figures, except couple pawn and one knight, which were protecting the king. He was doing very well, seeming better than her. She frowned and looked over the chess board one more time. Then she moved her Queen down couple rows.

His black orbs bore onto her caramel colored ones as he smirked at her obvious trap. Yet he still took his queen and knocked the white one over. Yes, they were using muggle chess. It was another unexplained thing about the young man in front of her. She always guessed it reminded him where they both came from, but it might as well be just his cruel play with her.

She smiled inwardly. It always started innocent.

_Hermione smiled at Harry, bitter tears starting to escape her eyes. Harry squeezed her hand for the last time and lifted the vial with dark purple liquid to his lips. His eyes shut as he took a first sip, and then another and another till the vial was empty. Hermione wrapped her arms around him tight, not even trying to stop the tears from coming anymore. She quietly listened to his breathing slowing until it faded to nothing. The poison was working. She remembered when she first met him and Ron, and how seemingly careless their childhood was. They fought over essays, they joked about Slytherins and stressed in Snape's class. Her heart broke when she remembered how much she laughed when Ron pushed Harry, and he accidentally knocked over all of Snape's supply cabinets like a domino._

_She swallowed last cries and laid her best friends body on a cold stone floor in one of the empty Hogward's classroom. Then she walked outside and locked the door behind her. The others were waiting for her._

"_We are ready." She said wiping her tears away and handing Harry's wand to Ron. Soon Voldemort will be mortal. Mortal, but not harmless. They had about 30 minutes, before Harry's body die completely and Voldemort will find out their plan._

The man sitting across from her ran his hand through his dark hair nervously. She knew he slowly started to realize her plan. She could read him like an open book. His eyes concentrated on the board, like there was nothing else in the world outside of that game. He was calculating every move. Not many pieces left on either side.

She smiled victoriously as he made the fatal move with his rook. It did not take her a second to move her bishop into the right position.

"Check" she said quietly and looked him in the eyes. First there was a shock on his face, his mouth slightly open and eyes widened, but then smile appeared as he took the fall.

There was no need to finish the game. His king was blocked in by his own pieces diagonally right in front of her bishop.

_Hermione watched Ron drink a polyjuice potion with one black hair in it and then slowly changing into exact copy of famous Boy-Who-Lived. She gave him a quick hug and whispered: "Good luck!"_

_He gave her a very crocked smile, tightened his grip on Harry's wand and ran into the court yard, where he met face to face with Voldemort. All eyes were concentrated on Ron, now in a body of Harry Potter and that was her chance._

_She couldn't remember the details. It all happened so fast. When Ron and Voldemort dueled she circled them till she was right behind the dark wizard. It was all just waiting game from now._

_Soon Voldemort grabbed his head in pain. Harry was dead; his last horcrux was destroyed. His snake like eyes surveyed the surroundings, panic mixed with anger easily detectable on his face._

_Hermione stood up from her hiding place and Lord Voldemort turned his entire body her direction._

"_You!" he spat out, not even bothering to raise his wand._

_Hermione gave a half-smile and said loudly enough for him to hear: "Checkmate, Voldemort!"_

_With the two simple words light green beam of light hit Voldemort's tall figure and Hermione watched his body fall onto the ground._

Without any other word her opponent got up and walked to her chair. He helped her up like always. They stood close. Many people would be scared of his eminent closeness, but somewhere along the line she got use to it. Never letting go of her hand, he used his other one to cup her cheek.

She looked up to him and said happily: "You lose, Tom!"

Those words became a phrase for her. She always won.

He let go of her cheek and ran his hand through her long brown curls. Then he gave her a smile, the real one, stripped of all snobbishness, self-ego and evil.

"Not as long as I have you, Miss Granger." He whispered pressing his forehead to hers. Hermione watched his eyes narrow and turn red, his skin lost all the color, and his hair fell one by one until there was none left. Until he looked like his real self again.

The rose garden, as well as her beautiful dress, was gone in a second and Hermione found herself back in her dark stone room. His spell wore of.

It was six years since she was captured by Lord Voldemort. She never lost track of time. She scratched one line for every day onto the wall of her cell. She never stepped out, but he always returned. Sometimes he would show up daily, sometimes she wouldn't hear of him for months. So she just waited. Waited to play Chess with him and to be saved.


End file.
